Decoding The Holy Grail: Terpene & Cannabinoid Retention: Decarb to Extraction

Well,.....
If you are doing an oil infusion or a fresh harvest infusion, I think breaking the buds up or better yet grinding down to good joint makings is a good idea.

With alcohol, I don't think it helps much. Although, the batch I documented was loose ground because I wanted good samples for testing. I never know.

My thoughts and they may be BS. Carrier oils are viscous and tend to coat the material and penetrate/be absorbed into it slowly. Agitation has less effect. Alcohol is thin and penetrates the material better and faster. Agitation does a better job of moving the oil out of and away form the material. I think of it as washing the cannabinoids out.

The batch with the co2 in the alcohol had a lot of co2 absorbed in it. I think it is helping with the extraction.

The strained only and the filtered residue I collected was 2.2g from a starting weight of 29g. Under a 30X loop it looks like resin glands and shaft skeletons and not much else. It is not the slightest oily. I can't say for sure what I am seeing but that is what it looks like to me.

Thoughts?
 
Bucudinkydow said:
Well, still having issues. I'm able to upload photos to "member galleries" for instance. Am I correct in assuming this should simultaneously load to my albums as well or is there a step I'm missing? It's failing to appear in my album photos. If I click on the "my album" tab next to "upload photos" I get this message: Sorry, Personal Albums are not enabled. Am I going astray in my process or is it time to contact a mod?
Click to expand...

If it is all new to you this may help. When you get your pictures in the box near the bottom of the page and click the button below it, you get a new page. In that window you need to scroll down to the bottom of it and select that button. to actually upload to your gallery. I missed it the first time I tried uploading something. The second page will allow you to deselect any images you want to omit.

I never know
 
My thoughts and they may be BS. Carrier oils are viscous and tend to coat the material and penetrate/be absorbed into it slowly. Agitation has less effect. Alcohol is thin and penetrates the material better and faster. Agitation does a better job of moving the oil out of and away form the material. I think of it as washing the cannabinoids out.


Pretty sure the agitation is key with these weak solvents, evoo, vg. I think you can trust me on that one. It does coat well and slowly absorb...but the layers must be constantly be refreshed to keep exposing available parts of the oil to absorb.
 
Canyon said:
If it is all new to you this may help. When you get your pictures in the box near the bottom of the page and click the button below it, you get a new page. In that window you need to scroll down to the bottom of it and select that button. to actually upload to your gallery. I missed it the first time I tried uploading something. The second page will allow you to deselect any images you want to omit.

I never know
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:cheertwo::thumb:BINGO!!! Thank you so much!

now i feel like a dumbass

:thankyou::thankyou:
 
In shopping around, avoid products originating in china. Sometimes this can be difficult. I've seen some marketing firms doing some clever masking of the the point of origin and making it seem domestic.

If they don't readily disclose on their site from what their terpenes are being extracted from, inquire prior to proceeding. Many are actually byproducts of petroleum distillation.

Beware of the use of the term organic. The nature of the process, even when extracted from plant matter (including cannabis), does not qualify the product for a USDA certification of organic. One company touted his product as organic although it was derived from petroleum products. I contacted the CEO of the small mom and pop company and asked how this could be. "Crude oil is organic" was his reply.

Just be vigilant!

BCDD
 
Ok folks, I think it may be time for me to move. After considerable deliberation, I think CCOilers suggestion of a separate thread probably has merit.

The accomplishments of this thread as well as the ongoing effort are admirable. I feel fortunate to have been able to participate and profit from the knowledge gained here. The think tank formed by so many talented individuals has been motivational for all of us to dig a little deeper in our quest.

This thread has definitely raised awareness of the importance of terpenes. Not only has it gained the attention of so many members here, but there's been references made on other forums of the work that's been accomplished.

I feel we share a common goal; to prepare the most effective product possible by including all the goodness that nature has bestowed upon this miracle plant. But now there seems to be an alternate path to achieve this goal and I feel inspired to investigate the evolving world of terpene additives.

I have a lot to share and with the almost infinite possibilities presented by such a diverse selection of different terpenes I have a lot of experiments planned. This is going to require a lot of bandwidth and looking back over the last few pages I see my posts have already been a bit more prolific here than I'm comfortable with. I definitely don't want to morph this thread into something other than what it was originally intended to be.

There's limitations to what one individual can accomplish and I'm looking forward to input and suggestions and assistance from all interested in sharing this journey. I, in turn, plan on continuing to follow the accomplishments here and participate, hopefully in a more pertinent manner, where I can.

Thanx
BCDD
 
BCDD,
I am rather sure that most of us here will follow your adventures. I know I will. I have become as interested in what terpenes can do as I am in retaining cannabinoids and terpenes. There are members here that will be eager to help with your projects.

Early in this thread I said that I did not want it to have too narrow of a focus. I wanted it to go where those who participate want it to go. If you are concerned that you are exceeding your welcome or hijacking a thread, you are not. What you are doing is informative and interesting.

What we have been doing moves rather slowly waiting for plants to get ready for harvest and the cost of tests. Bandwidth is not much of a concern from me.

Thanks for the complements in your post.
Best,
canyon
 
I agree with Canyon BCDD, this thread shifts direction as necessary to keep the info flowing and what you are doing is very important (at least in my opinion)

:cco: :Love: :cco::smokin2:
 
BCDD,

What Canyon said. Thanks for the input. It is admirable of you to show concern. I do think terpene addition deserves it's own thread. And I am sure many will follow to help. I suspect a dedicated thread would move things along more quickly. When progress is made, please bring the findings back here & dump it on us. Most of us care about all aspects of the journey. Besides, I have learned that when it comes to "filling in the blanks" the info comes from everywhere.

And, we sure hope you will stay active here! But it does deserve it's own thread. Adding terpenes is in it's infant stage. It needs a grwth spurt.
 
I don't know what to make of this.

I cooked a little jar of crumbled bud and olive oil. Ran it through my standard time and temp process and left it in the oven to cool. Promptly forgot about it.

MDW, unaware of all the above, fired the oven up to 350F for baking something or other. Nothing unusual there. But she doesn't know my oil is in there. We don't store anything in the oven so no need for her to look inside first.

Fast forward to I come home and do a OMG my canna oil is in there. Total time added was the preheat- 10 minutes ? - and just under a half hour at 350.

The oil was bubbling / boiling vigorously. Set it aside to cool down and did my usual straining.

Expecting the worse, I cracked the jar the next morning. It smelled slightly burned but not horribly so. A nutty, toasty flavour.

Took my usual 1/2 ml sample under my tongue and waited.

The sample reacted faster than usual - just a few seconds. The effects were also stronger than usual - maybe double?

Thinking I had killed every useful compound in it, I was pretty surprised to have the 'strongest' oil I've ever made.

Who knew?
 
I think we all should forget we ever read that.
;)
 
OB,
I have had similar experiences smoking decarbed buds.

I was considering running a terp test on these new in progress caps even though I don't have a starting/raw test. Well, This morning I set the beaker on the warming burner after a night in the frig and walked away. Anyway, when I remembered it, it was at 240f. I don't think it was that long but a terpene test would be a wast. I will still get the potency test. mostly to confirm I did not introduce too much THC into the mix from the heat. One of Kickn's tCheck machines would be handy about now.

I have enough extract to make 2 maybe 3 more one gram batches, hopefully I will get annother batch ready before I make another trip to the lab.


 
InTheShed said:
I think we all should forget we ever read that.
;)
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The take away for me is that we seem to have more time and temperature flexibility than thought.

I suggests people can be less concerned about ruining a batch by overcooking it.

Now that's good news :cheertwo:
 
Oldbear said:
The take away for me is that we seem to have more time and temperature flexibility than thought.
I suggests people can be less concerned about ruining a batch by overcooking it.
Now that's good news :cheertwo:
Click to expand...

It is indeed, but after 80 pages of searching for the holy grail, it turns out it's any old water glass in your cupboard. I'm certainly going to stop timing my oven decarb I can tell ya that! I may even go out for lunch while it cooks :).
 
InTheShed said:
It is indeed, but after 80 pages of searching for the holy grail, it turns out it's any old water glass in your cupboard. I'm certainly going to stop timing my oven decarb I can tell ya that! I may even go out for lunch while it cooks :).
Click to expand...

I'll certainly be less preoccupied with precision. I will do a test of this higher temp decarb when I do my next bake.

I decarb my bud bits in the oil though.

Not sure what would happen with an open to air decarb at these temps. I think it would burn the plant material and/or burn off the cannabinoids.
 
Oldbear said:
I decarb my bud bits in the oil though.Not sure what would happen with an open to air decarb at these temps. I think it would burn the plant material.
Click to expand...

Oh true. Thanks for pointing that out!
 
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